• A visceral pain plagues Labour at the moment. The unions, angered by Leader Ed's acceptance of that public sector pay freeze, are on the warpath. That is to be expected. But many of the party's MPs are just as angry and it's not just Tom Watson, whose opposition we highlighted earlier this week. How angry are they? Well, Ed Balls, one-time talisman for the Brownites, wandered into the Commons tea room the other day, encountering a clutch of colleagues. None deigned to speak to him. Certainly none felt any inclination to buy their former hero a cuppa. After awkward moments of silence, he was gone. Still, memories will fade. Time will heal.

• And he's a toughie; so he'll take his friends where he can find them. Even if it is only the Commons press gallery. How much would you bet on Leader Ed still being in the job this time next year, they asked him earlier today? Waffle, waffle, bluster. He'll answer eventually.

• But he was on bright form considering; recalling the day that Gordon Brown, then chancellor, rang to tell of the resignation of Peter Mandelson. Balls and Yvette Cooper were driving on the motorway at the time and Ed had just realised he'd left a vital joint of Christmas beef behind. "Where's the beef?" he asked Yvette in panic. "Wha'd you mean 'where's the beef?' – he's resigned," expostulated Brown. Balls: "Is it too late [to go back for the beef]?" "Of course – he's resigned," shrieked Brown. He always had a talent for Ayckbourn-style farce and we would see more of it later on.

• Meanwhile, a reception to honour Tony Benn is enlivened by the always illuminating Arthur Scargill. It could all have been very different, Arthur says. He recalls how in the 1980s, he tried to persuade Benn to stand in a mining constituency to strengthen the pit workers' cause. Benn refused because he did not want to abandon constituents in his then seat of Bristol South East. Scargill respected his fellow socialist's principles, especially his loyalty. But as time went on and the centre of gravity shifted, he must have wished that he pushed his comrade a little harder. The constituency he had in mind for Benn was Sedgefield. Instead, in 1983, a bright young Labour type was elected there. Tony something. Rich bloke now. Loves to travel.

• He left parliament, the former member for Sedgefield, and he never looked back. Which was wise. Because things in the area are getting a little scratchy. Lib Dem David Ward, the man from Bradford East, was on his feet on Wednesday. I am coming to a conclusion, he said finally. "Good," muttered Labour's Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham. Ward wasn't having it. "You and I are going to have words at some point," he said, pointing and glowering across the green benches. "Order," said committee chairman David Amess. "This is the mother of parliaments and we do conduct ourselves in a civilised way." Another day, another initiative.

• Wet sponges at the ready; here comes Sir Fred "the Shred" Goodwin. Strip him of his knighthood, say MPs. Big Dave agrees. But it's more than just his cack-handed stewardship of RBS. The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland has hit out at the Edinburgh-based global firm RMJM, after the firm admitted that salaries have again been delayed. According to Building magazine, staff have also been told to brace themselves for redundancies. All of which has a familiar ring. Who was until recently an adviser to the firm on a reported six-figure salary? Take aim!

• Finally, this just isn't Tesco's week. Yesterday, we told how the supermarket has been targeted by Christian fundamentalists. The ignominy continues. During a briefing on the plans for the royal flotilla at the jubilee in June, Lord Salisbury, the Tory eminence who's chairing the organising committee, said they have secured a measure of supermarket funding. "We have Sainsbury's and we are talking to various others, but it would be a bit downmarket to make it a Tesco pageant," he said. Oh dear. Poor Tesco. And no hope at all for Aldi.